That sound just like every plumbing job I tackle.
At my old bachelor pad house that was built in the 1950s there was nothing whatsoever that was standard parts of today. It had lead pipe drains, and the bathtub faucet was the old style two knobs about 24 inches apart that went through the cast iron bathtub. I finally had to cut a hole in the living room wall to access the backside of the tub to remove the faucet and take it to an old man with a faucet repair shop. He said "wow I haven't seen one like that in years" but he rebuilt it and I got it back in place.
Of course I had a hot date that evening and I really NEEDED a shower after all that.
I finally re-did that pink and green bathroom and it required a complete gut of the bathroom down to wall studs and a new sub-floor and floor. I had to hire a plumber to replace the lead drain for the toilet and get to the cast iron sewer pipe.
Golly that was a fun project!